Before the end of the spring semester, a group of Bard Graduate Center students
in the “Colors in China and Japan: Objects, Cultures, and Conservation” seminar
visited the Textile Conservation Lab at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Kristine Kamiya, an associate conservator in the lab, gave the students a tour
and introduced them to the conservation work carried out by her and other
textile conservators at the museum.
Before entering the lab, Kamiya showed the group a current exhibition entitled
“The Secret Life of Textiles: Plant Fibers,” which is on display next to the
Ratti Textile Center and on view until July 31, 2016. The exhibit offers
information about natural fibers cultivated and used across the globe for
textile production. The textile conservators planned the exhibit in order to
inform museum visitors about the characteristics of varied plant-based fibers
that have been produced for thousands of years—such as hemp and cotton. Cases
show examples of raw plant fibers as well as several textiles from different
time periods and cultures. The exhibit is one of three that will offer a close
examination of fibers used for textile production. The next two installations
will focus on animal and synthetic fibers. After walking through the exhibit,
Kamiya led the class to the Textile Conservation Lab, a state-of-the-art center
that opened at the museum in 1995.
In the lab, Kamiya discussed
the work of the department as well as their principles of conservation. She
shared that the conservators do not try to restore textiles in the museum’s
collection but rather seek to stabilize the pieces and prevent future damage
through reversible, invisible treatments and environmental controls. The
conservators apply reversible treatments so that their work does not
permanently alter the textiles in the collection. They assess the condition of
textiles and perform preservation techniques, such as filling in areas of
fabric loss to stabilize the fibers and construction. The team performs
scientific analysis on some pieces and also creates customized display and
storage environments. The center includes an extensive research library where
conservators can consult texts in multiple languages about textiles from across
time and all over the world. It also includes facilities to undertake
scientific examinations of textiles and their components and a space that
conservators use to custom dye fibers in order to match colors in their work as
closely as possible.
In
the lab, the conservators work in a large, open space, and the class visited
several work stations to see conservation techniques in action. The students
examined a fifteenth-century European tapestry entitled Courtiers in a Rose
Garden: Two Ladies and Two Gentlemen that is in the process of being preserved
in the lab. The conservator working on the piece pointed out areas that she had
stabilized by inserting new warp threads. She revealed that the conservation
team had spent a long time researching the original dye colors and fibers used
to make the tapestry and had worked toward using the best matches in colored
thread for the preservation efforts. The class also observed conservation work
on an Islamic door hanging that required treatment to secure loose and
desiccated threads. At another station, an Indian hanging with a gilt
stencil-printed pattern was being analyzed for potential conservation work. The
class also saw two Chinese theater robes that needed new stitching in areas to
prevent further fabric damage. Kamiya then showed the class several Japanese
kimonos in the museum’s collection and discussed her research and conservation
work on them. This work includes taking into account and reinforcing the stress
points on the garment for display as well as storage. It also includes knowing
how much conservation treatment to carry out, especially true In the case of
kimonos with deterioration due to the properties of the weighted silks they are
made of, where stabilization is needed but too much treatment can cause harm to
the surrounding areas of the garment.
At
the end of the tour Kamiya shared her educational and practical background with
the class. Kamiya has worked at the Met for twelve years. She shared that her
road to working as a conservator was different from the academic one typically
taken now. Her personal interest in textile arts of Japan, two years of
studying textiles in Okinawa, personal experience as a maker, practical
experience in the sciences, and degree from NYU in textile studies led her to a
hands-on internship in the textile department at the Met. Kamiya stated that
she enjoys work as a conservator because it combines science, art history, and
hands-on work with objects. The tour made it clear that the combination of
these three elements in textile conservation work makes it both a rewarding
profession and integral to ensuring that Met textiles can serve as important
educational resources for years to come.
-Catherine Stergar and Summer Olsen
